Playbooks and Checkbooks

Name: Playbooks and Checkbooks
Price: 82.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9780691127507

An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports

Stefan Szymanski

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
16 June 2009

Economics & Business; Sport & leisure industries; Sports & outdoor recreation

What economic rules govern sports? How does the sports business differ from other businesses? Playbooks and Checkbooks takes a fascinating step-by-step look at the fundamental economic relationships shaping modern sports. Focusing on the ways that the sports business does and does not overlap with economics, the book uncovers the core paradox at the heart of the sports industry. Unlike other businesses, the sports industry would not survive if competitors obliterated each other to extinction, financially or otherwise--without rivals there is nothing to sell. Playbooks and Checkbooks examines how this unique economic truth plays out in the sports world, both on and off the field. Noted economist Stefan Szymanski explains how modern sporting contests have evolved; how sports competitions are organized; and how economics has guided antitrust, monopoly, and cartel issues in the sporting world. Szymanski considers the motivation provided by prize money, uncovers discrepancies in players' salaries, and shows why the incentive structure for professional athletes encourages them to cheat through performance-enhancing drugs and match fixing.

He also explores how changes in media broadcasting allow owners and athletes to play to a global audience, and why governments continue to publicly fund sporting events such as the Olympics, despite almost certain financial loss. Using economic tools to reveal the complex arrangements of an industry, Playbooks and Checkbooks illuminates the world of sports through economics, and the world of economics through sports.

By: Stefan Szymanski
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 397g
ISBN: 9780691127507
ISBN 10: 0691127506
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 16 June 2009
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface vii Chapter One: Sports and Business 1 Chapter Two: Organizing Competition 27 Chapter Three: Sports and Antitrust 59 Chapter Four: Sporting Incentives 92 Chapter Five: Sports and Broadcasting 125 Chapter Six: Sports and the Public Purse 155 Epilogue 180 A Beginner's Guide to the Sports Economics Literature 185 Acknowledgments 197 Index 199

Stefan Szymanski is professor of economics and the MBA Dean at the Cass Business School, City University London. He is the coauthor of Fans of the World, Unite!: A (Capitalist) Manifesto for Sports Consumers; National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer; and Winners and Losers: The Business Strategy of Football.

Reviews for Playbooks and Checkbooks: An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports

Mr. Szymanski, an economics professor at the Cass Business School at City University in London, tackles the apparent paradoxes of the sports business in the head-on style of an N.F.L. linebacker... He displays an impressive global knowledge of sports ranging from basketball and cricket to tennis and rugby, and provides a wealth of revealing financial information as well as entertaining sports trivia. -- Harry Hurt III New York Times Playbooks and Checkbooks is not a snoozer but a sleeper; equal parts eminently readable and wholly fascinating... Szymanski's non-elaborated notion places his book with the best art history, for art also is a creature of its time. -- David M. Gordon The Browser Szymanski covers most relevant topics in modern sports economic theory in a very elegant and in my opinion comprehensible fashion. Personally, I really enjoyed his explanation of wage formation in sports labour markets, and his (sociological/historical) views on the development of sport as business... It is well written, well structured and sometimes even funny. -- Kjetil K. Haugen Nordic Sport Studies Forum